September 19: Poor Sick Baby

Isla woke up this morning acting and looking much worse than the past few days.  She was just completely lethargic and did not want to do anything.  It was hard to get her to sit up or even lift her head up.  She was obviously not feeling well, and I knew something more was going on besides just getting a new tooth.

I spent almost the entire day holding Isla and trying to help her get comfortable. She just laid there with her head on my shoulder.  She slept a little, but mostly she just stared listlessly into space.

Audrey wasn't too happy about me being occupied with Isla all day long, but the day ended up pretty good for Audrey.  Tonight, she told me that it was the best day ever.  Because we felt bad that Audrey was getting ignored, Daniel took her out to Dairy Queen for lunch.  Plus, I let her watch just about as much TV as she wanted to keep her occupied and quiet.  Dairy Queen plus TV equals best day ever for Audrey.

I was planning to wait until tomorrow before taking Isla to the doctor, but I just got too worried about her this afternoon.  All day her breathing rate just seemed really fast; she was taking at least 60 breaths per minute consistently.  Combined with her listless, lethargic behavior, I thought we should get her checked out today.

The verdict from the doctor's office:  an ear infection, along with some kind of virus. Doctor wasn't too concerned with her fast breathing, as she said that is common with a fever.  (Isla's fever hasn't been that high though, around 100.  That doesn't seem high enough to warrant such fast breathing, but what do I know?)  The doctor was pretty concerned with Isla's lethargic behavior though.  She checked her blood sugar, and it was low.  That is understandable since she wasn't interested in eating or drinking much today.  Her recommendation was to take Isla to the ER if she is still acting lethargic tomorrow.  She recommended lots of fluids, which I have been trying to do but it has been almost impossible to get Isla to drink much.

After getting home from the doctor's office, we finally got her to drink about a half a cup of juice.  She took a little nap in Daniel's arms.  And then, all of a sudden, she was fine.  She sat in her chair and ate a little food at dinnertime.  Then she smiled and laughed and played and acted completely normal for the rest of the night.  She was a completely different girl from the limp, listless girl I held in my arms all day today.  Her fever went back down to normal all on its own, without any help from Tylenol. 

I have no idea what led to such a quick and amazing turn around for her.  Maybe that half cup of juice was enough sugar to give her some energy again?   I'm just hoping that things will start moving up from here.  I would love to avoid any more days like today.  I would also love to avoid any trips to the ER.  Even though she was acting more normal tonight, she still refused to drink anything else.  Maybe she has a sore throat?  We tried everything to encourage drinking fluids; we even pulled out her old bottle and tried to give her some Gatorade in it.  But she was not interested and refused to drink anything.

So, I hope that tonight wasn't a fluke.  And that she will wake up fever free in the morning, ready to play and drink and eat and get back to normal!!